There were plenty of overarching messages I learned from visiting the Australian agencies we did. I think what stuck with me the most was how everything worked efficiently and effectively for each agency and for the Australian people. We struggle in the U.S to have the right systems set in place to help those less fortunate. But what a few agencies mentioned and what I definitely picked up on was that it all works because they know the ingredients to making it all work. Some agencies were specific and others were broad but they never tried to do too much to help everyone they possibly could. It was about reaching out to a certain population and making a difference in that society and I can respect them for that concentration. Sometimes doing too much isn’t the best and that’s a message I’ll take away from all of our visits.
The specificity of this message was clearly seen when learning about the Aboriginal peoples, refugees, and children in Australia. A majority of the agencies we visited targeted assistance towards one of these three groups of people. VACCA, VICSEG, Royal Children’s Hospital, and Berry Street all had focuses in these populations and again they never tried to do too much but just help these people in ways they knew how. Each agency acknowledged the Aboriginal peoples in some way and it was great to see different people’s perspectives on that population of Australia. Some opinions were positive and others were controversial but it all contributed to so our learning. Seeing the programs at VICSEG acknowledge the aspects of acclimation when living in a new country contributed to the idea of not doing too much. They took care of refugees from all over and focused on women and children. The influx of refugees into Australian was similar to the U.S in that both countries were melting pots. There is so much diversity amongst all the people in both countries. So much hope for refugees in both countries.
Visiting Australia has helped me prepare more for my future career as an occupational therapist more so than I thought it would. I incorporated what I learned about social work and underserved population in what I’ve learned about medicine and how to work with such populations. Social work and medicine when brought to their core are about helping and taking care of people. It’s about relating to your patients and how to take care of them in the best way for them, not for you. Working with children and adolescents has always been my goal and our visits solidified that. What these agencies are doing is helping children now and for the future. There’s nothing we do today that we don’t do for the intention of keeping it for the future. I see the future in the children of the world and intend on helping them succeed in every way. I learned more than expected from the social workers who focus on the care of children and intend on taking those lessons with me in my profession.
Saying Australia changed my life is an understatement. Or it’s completely dramatic. Either way, I was impacted in more ways than one. Visiting Australia just before my final year at Ohio State was probably the best time to take such a trip. It’s changed how I want to go about going to occupational therapy school, what I want to do in my career, and mostly where I want to go in my life. Seeing how efficient a universal health care system can work for a country and how all citizens and patients can get the care they need is more than accomplishment in my eyes. It’s fair, it’s right, and it makes all the difference. Australia has differences compared to the U.S and that was something I constantly had to remind myself. Systems that work there do not in the U.S for a multitude of reasons. There are things I would do differently in the U.S because of what I learned on this trip and there are things I would do differently the next time I visit Australia. Although a month was a long time, it wasn’t enough to explore everything. I don’t regret a thing from this trip but plan on a different experience for the next trip. I have a lengthy list of people to thank for this opportunity but ultimately I just thank Australia for taking me in and changing everything in my life. Thank you!
